Blog Archive

Last December, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, called 2014 one of the worst years on record for children. A new UN report issued on June 11th, on children and armed conflict – how many were killed, abducted, or subject to other grave violations – supports the horrible truth.

On March 26, the first day of airstrikes by a Saudi-led international coalition against the Houthi rebels who control the capital and much of the rest of the country, Yemen’s education ministry suspended all classes in Sanaa. Many other areas subject to coalition attacks and fighting between the Houthis and other armed groups soon followed suit. Across Yemen, 3,600 schools — 76 percent of the country’s total — have closed due to insecurity, according to the United Nations. As a result, about 1.85 million children cannot take this year’s final exams.

International gold refiners who use gold from Ghana may be benefitting from hazardous child labor in unlicensed mines. Children have been injured – and, in at least one case, killed – in mine collapses, and suffered from pain and respiratory problems caused by their work. They also risk brain damage and other life-long disabilities from mercury poisoning.

In Charleston, South Carolina a terrible event has occurred. A church in the city was attacked and nine, including a pastor, were killed during a bible study when a 21 year old man shot them. The shooters name was Dylan Roof. He went in to a very holy place and committed a horrible crime. When I first heard about this I was so surprised that anyone would commit such a crime inside of a safe and holy place. The shooter claimed his reason for doing so was to start up a race war. Horrible events like this can be prevented.

South Sudan has been engaged in a civil war for 18 months now, with both sides using children to help fight their battles. Accounts in Sudan show hundreds of boys remain in the government's forces, which have left burned villages as the conflict continues. Opposing armed forces have committed similar war crimes during this conflict, killing civilians because of their ethnicity and torching villages. Use and recruitment of children under 18 is illegal under South Sudanese law, but is still common practice.

The Bangladesh government is yet to take sufficient steps to end child marriage in spite of promises to do so. Instead, in steps in the wrong direction, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attempted to lower the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 16 years old, raising serious doubts about her commitment to the cause. Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage of girls under the age of 15 in the world, with 29 percent of girls in Bangladesh married before age 15, according to a UNICEF study.

The Brazilian Congress should vote down a proposed Constitutional amendment that would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to be tried and punished as adults. Until now, Brazil has been at the forefront of the world trend to provide broader legal protections to children, according to human rights experts. The amendment would also result in juveniles being incarcerated with adults. It would also violate international legal standards that have been mentioned in human rights treaties ratified by Brazil. There is no reason to have the minors treated as adults and placed in such dangers.

Fighting groups frequently convert schools into bases by surrounding playing fields with barbed wire and filling classrooms with beds for soldiers. They start forts on top of school buildings to survey the surrounding area, and they position snipers in classroom windows. They stack rifles in hallways, hide grenades under desks, and park armored vehicles in gymnasiums.This poses a huge risk for everyone including students and teachers.

We've all had those days where we roll out of bed on the wrong side. You know, those days when your fuse is short, you have zero patience for anyone and you just can't seem to shake off the grumpiness. But, you have a full day ahead of you now. This seems to become more and more common. Lives are becoming much more stressful for everyone young or old but there are ways we can all make our days better. First, honor your feelings. By that I mean recognize them and work on them, don't try to hide it. Vent it out.

On May 29, 2015, 37 countries joined an International Safe Schools Declaration that demands them to protect education from attack. In situations of conflict, there are widespread attacks on schools and universities, their students and staff, as well as the use of school buildings by armed forces. It is denying education to many people. When armed forces use schools and universities as bases and barracks, weapons storage, training grounds, or detention centers, it not only forces students out, but it risks making those buildings a military target.